Wild Words celebrates 100 years of Alberta writers

By Janice Lee

From October 19–23, U of C will host Wild Words: 2005 Alberta Centennial Literary Celebration, the première centennial event celebrating Alberta’s rich literary culture.

“A number of individuals on campus felt that a party celebrating 100 years of Alberta would be a pale and incomplete gala without honouring and recognizing all the fine writing that had gone on during that 100 years,” says Clem Martini, associate professor in the Department of Drama and one of the organizers of the Wild Words conference and free public readings.

“Alberta is lucky in that it is host to a very lively writing scene. Albertan writers have been shaking things up and creating an international presence for some time.

Consider just a few of the names on the Wild Words reading list and you begin to perceive just the tip of the iceberg.”

Over 50 internationally known Alberta writers and scholars of Albertan literature will gather at the U of C for a five-day conference and free public readings to showcase and explore the talent, wisdom and courage that is Alberta writing.

The conference provides a rare opportunity to meet and learn from a group of writers and scholars not regularly seen together in one place at one time. Wild Words explores some of the diversity of writing produced in the province by the poets, playwrights, novelists, historians, chroniclers and critics who have called Alberta home. European, national and home-grown scholars will discuss why Alberta literature has made such an impact around the globe.

The event features the AlbertaViews keynote address by internationally renowned actor, writer, and puppeteer Ronnie Burkett, 12 panel sessions, and talks by non-fiction author Myrna Kostash, playwright Sharon Pollock, and novelist Fred Stenson.

Free public readings will feature some of the province’s finest writers, including novelist Rudy Wiebe, currently in residence at U of C as the Markin-Flanagan Distinguished Visiting Writer, and playwright Vern Thiessen, currently nominated for the $100,000 Siminovitch prize in theatre. Other authors performing include Robert Kroetsch, Sheri-D Wilson, Sid Marty, Hiromi Goto, Joan Crate, Greg Hollingshead and Conni Massing.

“We called the conference ‘Wild Words’ because of the unrestrained, energetic, iconoclastic, risk taking, bronco-busting elements that are so much a part of Alberta writing,” says Martini. “It’ll be five days of great readings, thought-provoking discussion and the opportunity to meet some of the most talented writers this country has to offer.”

Details on the conference and public readings, including schedules, are available at: www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/conferences/WildWords2005.

Advance registration (fax, mail or online) for conference sessions other than the author readings is required; fees are $165 ($225 on site) or $35 for students.